033 Chapter 3 Methodology Those who participated in the post-workshop discussions: • • • • were based in regional and metropolitan Australia, across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria ranged in age from 23 to 80 years, though skewed towards older with an average age of 52 worked or volunteered in various roles delivering services to older adults across the aged care, allied health, and community sectors had varying levels of experience in working with older adults, ranging from those who were relatively new to decades of experience. By taking place 2–3 months after the age awareness workshops, these discussions served as a delayed debriefing session and provided the participants with an opportunity to reflect on the training and discuss their experiences. For the Commission, the sessions offered a useful technique for obtaining more detailed information about participants’ experiences and perceptions related to ageing, ageism, and the impact of the workshop. 3.6 Survey instrument The questionnaire used for the online surveys consisted of the following three validated instruments. (a) Ambivalent Ageism Scale The Ambivalent Ageism Scale (AAS)73 consists of 13 items across benevolent and hostile ageism subscales. The separate benevolent and hostile ageism subscales make the AAS a useful tool for understanding the often complex and nuanced attitudes people hold towards older adults. (b) Fraboni Scale of Ageism The Fraboni Scale of Ageism (FSA)74 is one of the most used measurements for ageing research. It is composed of 29 items which measure ageism across three subscales: • • • (c) antilocution subscale (10 items) – measures the degree to which respondents endorse expressions of antagonistic attitudes and prejudice towards older adults avoidance subscale (10 items) – measures the tendency to avoid contact with older adults75 discrimination subscale (9 items) – measures endorsement of statements about excluding older adults and other discriminatory behaviours. 12-Item Expectations Regarding Ageing Scale Unlike attitudinal scales, the 12-Item Expectations Regarding Ageing (ERA-12)76 is not designed to identify positive or negative attitudes towards older adults. Its purpose is to quantify the extent to which older adults expect age-associated decline for themselves over time, in three different health domains of physical health, mental health, and cognitive function. While designed to assess older people’s expectations for their own ageing process, the ERA-12 is also sensitive to how younger people expect to age themselves, which can be more related to the stereotypes and age-based assumptions they hold.77 The same questionnaire was used for all three surveys, with additional questions about participants’ intention to change behaviour and actual changes in behaviour added to the post-workshop and follow-up surveys respectively. Lastly, demographic questions were included to obtain information about participants’ age, geographic location, occupation, years of experience working with older adults, primary language, and education level, as well as to enable analysis by subgroups. All additional questions were developed by the research team.